Tim Draper To Universities: This Is How You Teach People To Become Entrepreneurs

Spend more than 10 minutes in any of the top business schools around the country and you'll quickly understand why 24 students took up Peter Thiel's $100,000 offer to skip college. A whole lot happens in business school - lessons in economics, marketing, strategy, and of course the obligatory finance course. But none of it helps much - at least not for the entrepreneur.

More disappointing than the business degree - is the degree to which these universities promote, idealistically and misleadingly, a sugar coated version of the real world. They seem to pretend that today's business climate resembles the way it did in the 1990s and that’s just silly; nobody in the business world trusts these universities to graduate students ready to tackle today's business problems. High unemployment rates among the newly graduated serve as proof and testament.

Yes, a bit harsh, and some like UC Irvine and UCLA are making an effort to add courses that resemble situations found in today's business environment. But trust me - they are in the minority.

One notable exception can be found in the middle of Silicon Valley at a University founded by renowned Venture Capitalist Tim Draper. The first time I saw Draper's University in downtown San Mateo I wasn't sure that it was real. The Hogwarts-like exterior and lightning bolt school flag reminded me of Harry Potter and ‘He Who Must Not Be Named’ - but it did name - in a larger than life sign on top of the building. But as I soon found out, the façade, the sign and the flag are all hints of the entrepreneurial magic inside.

“We bring in CEOs, and industry experts instead of academics. It’s our philosophy to bring in business people that have worked in the industry so that they can share actual war stories,” Carol Lo Jillson, COO of Draper University told me, “We want to immerse our students in an entrepreneurial life and teach them how to build a network with their classmates.”

From my own assessment, Draper University is a place for entrepreneurs to refine their startup business plan, learn how to raise capital, understand business fundamentals and network with people that can help them succeed. The University’s promise is that they will change how students think about the business world, equip them to be successful and give them higher levels of confidence. It’s promoting the great American dream - but far more efficiently.

And if you thought the school was in Draper’s name only, you’d be wrong. From interviews with his staff and former students, Draper takes an Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster approach to the school. “Tim is actively involved in teaching students and arranging meetings for them with business professionals, venture capitalists and inspirational speakers,” former student and now 28 year-old CEO Surbhi Sarna explained. Sarna is one of Draper University’s success stories, having raised nearly $4.5 million for her company nVision Medical since graduating.

Sarna’snVision Medical is developing an early detection device for ovarian cancer. If found earlier (stage 1 or 2) the odds of recovery are significantly higher. According to Sarna, this is still one of the greatest unmet needs in women’s health. And Draper was so impressed by Sarna and the company, that he invested himself.

I asked Sarna what she learned from Draper University, and she responded with a list of things that she claimed were not taught in college or anywhere else for that matter:

1. That building a business was more than just making money or following your passion, it’s about providing new job opportunities for the community.

2. The art of term sheet negotiation – there’s no one way to do it.

3. She and her classmates got to observe real startup CEO pitch sessions in front Draper: “To see this in action was like watching Shark Tank but more relevant to our entrepreneurial studies.”

5. “They taught us that it's okay to fail in front of people - just know what you're good at and focus on building a team around you that can fill in for your weaknesses.

6. The seasoned business executives that Draper brought in added a new perspective that Sarna didn’t see in her academic college courses: “Almost all of the speakers Draper invited to speak gave me new perspectives on how to be successful in business. I walked away from those presentations with new contacts and new strategies to build my own business.”

We’re going through a huge job skill requirement transformation in the middle of one of the most disruptive eras in modern history. It requires a new approach to education. Universities who cling to teaching methods from the past threaten to deprive students of the knowledge and skills they need to be successful in the future.

People like Tim Draper who think differently about educating entrepreneurs and online education sites like Udemy, Coursera and Skillfeed are examples of next generation approaches to educating knowledge workers. To have more jobs, we need more entrepreneurs - to have more skilled workers to fill those jobs, we need affordable, online education. Just relying on the same old, slow-moving college university system will not sustain the American dream.

I provide an insider's view of the modern business world based on my years of experience working as an executive and consultant within the Global 3000. I am the CEO for Fanatics Media, a Digital Marketing Agency, and the author of Socialized!